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At the end of the UM master's program, students complete a practicum, a "capstone" course taken after all skill development is completed, spending 96 hours at an institution or agency, typically working under a nurse informatician, to apply their knowledge to create a tangible product for that agency. "Within the government, we've placed people within the office of the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs," Charters said. Others have done stints with government contractors, supporting teams that make recommendations about which information systems to implement, requirements analysis and other consulting roles.

"Then we have nurses we place within what we consider traditional hospital settings," Charters said. "In this area-D.C. and Baltimore-most hospitals have some kind of clinical information system that's a legacy system, that is being turned over for a new system. Our students get involved in that evolution, with implementing that new technology."

These hospital-based graduates also work with staff education and training departments, developing computer-assisted or Web-based learning modules to train nurses in how to use new information systems, Charters said.

The majority of grad students do not come directly from receiving a bachelor's degree, Charters said. "Most have been in the real world and decided they have something specific they want to do," she said.

Classes typically occur in the late afternoon and evening, but with a high-tech twist: most of them are offered online, with the exception of three master's core courses. By next fall, it will be possible to take every master's degree course online, Charters said. "When we say online, [we mean] they don't have to set foot on this campus in order to complete this degree," she said.

New students are encouraged to come to the campus for an orientation. From that point on, the graduate school of nursing employs Web-based technology from Blackboard Inc., giving students e-access to online health science library resources and electronic health journals. Students submit classwork, instructors mark it up and students receive this via e-mail. Faculty post grades electronically, and students can pull up their transcripts online. Students in the program also support each other through group projects. Each course requires students to work closely together as a team on a project reflective of real-world conditions, Elenberg said.

The program lets Elenberg take additional online courses through the University of Maryland's University College (UMUC), even though she's never set foot on its Adelphi, Md., campus. This college's business administration courses reflect different core values than the school of nursing's programs, but "it is valuable to broaden your insight into the corporate world," Elenberg said.

Don't think that online graduate courses are easier than attending class in person.

"Online, you have to have references for all of your input, and you're required to participate in order for learning to occur," Elenberg said. "It is much more difficult than listening to a face-to-face presentation." Online courses facilitate participation from students all around the world, again reflecting real-world globalization.

Elenberg said her studies have been "very well-rounded. Some at UMUC are very technical, where I needed to know specific languages like Oracle when I learned how to build a database. From the nursing informatics program at UM, I learned from a nursing perspective how to do a systems analysis, understand the relationships within a database and how to most effectively harness that information so it is useful to the end user."

The payoff: Elenberg's used this training on an ongoing basis as she's been re-architecting a database for the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service. "This is my primary job," she said. "They just happen to marry up nicely." The database identifies potential food hazards in meat, poultry and egg products through standard data and nontraditional data. By mining this data through spatial geotemporal algorithms, Elenberg and others will be able to better identify food hazards and initiate investigations. Elenberg is leading the overhaul of the existing database and will be the project manager.

"Dr. Charters has been very helpful in keeping me connected or getting me contacts within the field of nursing informatics and bio-surveillance," Elenberg said. "The classes have been fantastic, the professors invaluable. They have exposed me to every aspect of nursing informatics. They are a safety net for me, as I learn my job."